BLOG:THE FIGHT FOR BEAUTY

We approach art either as appreciators or as creators. As appreciators, we have to be able to relate to what we are seeing. As creators we have to be able to create something that in some way connects with other people.

What is the common denominator between these two groups? I believe it is a desire to be moved by beauty. Art gives us that unique opportunity to touch and be touched by beauty. It is my belief that, unless something has happened in our life to change us, we are naturally attracted to beauty. We want to be moved by it. There is a very deep part of us that was, in fact created by God Himself to connect with it.

In her book, Venus in Exile: The Rejection of Beauty in 20th-Century Art, Wendy Steiner underlines the assertion that modern art is purposely ugly and attempts to trace the intellectual roots of this monstrosity through the philosophies of Immanuel Kant and Edmund Burke, early twentieth century arguments of the avant-garde and the movement to banish the feminine, the sentimental and the beautiful in striving to attain the shattering experience of the sublime. Steiner’s thesis throughout is that the result has been a “double dehumanizing” and severe alienation of human interest

Steiner also said that it takes social courage to have taste now. You have to be willing to go your own way. I believe that you have to define your own narrative. Popular appeal cannot be a motivation. Seeking it could cause you to invalidate yourself.

Through beauty the creator can touch and move and if you will, bless the viewer. To me, this is one of the more noble purposes of art.

THE FIGHT FOR BEAUTY

BEAUTY

We approach art either as appreciators or as creators. As appreciators, we have to be able to relate to what we are seeing. As creators we have to be able to create something that in some way connects with other people. What is the common denominator between these two groups? I believe it is a desire to be moved by beauty.